Since everybody else's is posting their reading . . .

I had read lots about Buddhism at the time because I was on my way to Vn and had read many books on my own about the culture, etc., As it turns out, Vn is pretty much Confucianists even though normally to practicing Buddhist (there are Buddhist temples and people pray there). Also, I dipped just a bit into Hinduism. Nonetheless, the book was a challenge to read and understand, even when I factor in the crazy situation I found myself in-country in Vn.

I will give the late author at least one kudo. Great imagination and creativity went into the novel.

But nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTING, beats A CANTICLE FOR LEIBOWITZ!

"non omnis moriar" . . . Horace, Odes

"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" . . . Red Green Show

"They see well that all who speak are nothing, for they shall fadeaway with the sound of their words, but the Lord endures forever.". . . Thomas a Kempis, THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, Book 4, Chapter 14, No. 4

I read Rawhide Down this weekend. This book is a chronology of the assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan in 1981. The author's writing style is really not up to the story, and he seems to depend heavily on the recollections and some recordings made by Richard V. Allen, one of President Reagan's advisers. But I couldn't put the book down until I finished in the wee hours this morning.

The author mentioned two areas where advances since the assassination attempt on George Wallace helped Reagan survive: advances in the development of emergency medicine in the 1970s, and improvements in the training of Secret Service agents in the same period. Even though these developments were given some attention in the book, I thought it was still a tad thin.

The author also makes the case that the assassination attempt helped Reagan politically in its aftermath.

One item in this book that annoys me is the description of Barry Goldwater in 1964 as an "ultraconservative." Even allowing for all that has happened since 1964, and Goldwater's own seeming defection from conservatism in the 1980s, I don't think the term "ultraconservative," even in the context of 1964, is appropriate.

While this short book fills a gap, something tells me that this is not the definitive treatment of the subject.

I should note the account in this book seems to differ from the account given in a recent movie on the subject.

I still remember praying the Litany of Loreto for President Reagan that afternoon all those years ago. May the God who preserved President Reagan's life then now give him peace.

This book documents Obama's association with socialist groups going back to his college days in New York. Kurtz has to engage in a lot of conjecture about Obama's New York days, mostly because the documentation is very thin. The documentation is much better for Obama's Chicago period. Basically, Obama's denials of close association with Bill Ayres, Bernardine Dohrn, and his minimization of the influence of Rev. Jeremiah Wright are all lies.

A big part of the book describes how segments of American Socialism came to the realization that the US was not ready for a revolution, and therefore Socialism had to be quietly promoted through front groups focusing on middle class and blue collar concerns, but trying to avoid alienating these groups by openly promoting Socialist doctrine. One strategy involved promoting and expanding the welfare state until it was unsustainable, in hopes that the unsustainability would spark a revolution. (I will say it is important to keep this in mind as we watch Obama foundering in office; he doesn't need to succeed in the conventional sense - if his blunders spark a socialist revolution, his (or at least his associates') cause succeeds.)

(It seems that the Weathermen thought attacking the people they wanted to organize was a viable strategy. And Bill Ayres only gave up this strategy after the Weathermen's terror spree failed.)

There is a discussion of how ACORN and the Community Reinvestment Act helped cause the subprime loan meltdown.

There is a discussion of Black Liberation "Theology", and how community organizers attempted to "revitalize" Catholic churches in Latino neighborhoods, but then tried to co-opt church authority. (Actually, I think Kurtz is only showing the tip of the iceberg on this.)

A big part of the book describes how segments of American Socialism came
to the realization that the US was not ready for a revolution, and
therefore Socialism had to be quietly promoted through front groups
focusing on middle class and blue collar concerns, but trying to avoid
alienating these groups by openly promoting Socialist doctrine. One
strategy involved promoting and expanding the welfare state until it was
unsustainable, in hopes that the unsustainability would spark a
revolution.

The very definition of subversion!

"non omnis moriar" . . . Horace, Odes

"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" . . . Red Green Show

"They see well that all who speak are nothing, for they shall fadeaway with the sound of their words, but the Lord endures forever.". . . Thomas a Kempis, THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, Book 4, Chapter 14, No. 4

What this means is that these guys don't care if their policies are too expensive, or if they will wreck the banking industry, or if they will cause a collapse of the general economy or of order. If things come apart, it will spark the revolution, and they will take over. (So they think.) They also seem to have come to the realization that social programs can never be repealed, reformed, or abolished; they can only grow until they can't be sustained.

Be careful what you wish for. It was socialists who were overthrown by the more militant Bolsheviks. And the Bolsheviks in turn were taken over and purged by Stalin. It's also quite possible that when the system collapses, the white, very upper middle class, small-c communists may well find that they will be dominated by gangsters, with no ideology (or principles, or scruples) at all.

And yet there is a self-serving cynicism bound up in all this. ACORN has been acquiring foreclosed houses, and giving them to their foot soldiers. It turns out that the deed to these properties limit the new owner's ability to sell the property, and ACORN retains the ownership of the land under the houses. And a lot of agitation for expanded government programs is calculated to have the government provide grants to front organizations operated by ACORN or other activist groups.

I got mad reading this book. And I think about all those people who voted for Obama, but not the real one. Rather they voted for the image of Obama they had in their own minds.

Stanley Kurtz said he started writing this book being skeptical about Obama being a Socialist. Kurtz is now convinced that Obama is a Socialist.

jbc1949 wrote:A big part of the book describes how segments of American Socialism came to the realization that the US was not ready for a revolution, and therefore Socialism had to be quietly promoted through front groups focusing on middle class and blue collar concerns, but trying to avoid alienating these groups by openly promoting Socialist doctrine. One strategy involved promoting and expanding the welfare state until it was unsustainable, in hopes that the unsustainability would spark a revolution.

The very definition of subversion!

This is indeed the very tactic that has always been used by the Fabian Society and their fellow-travelers in advancing the cause of socialism. G. Edward Griffin goes into this at length in The Creature from Jekyll Island. (Another book that will make you very, very angry.)

Today I made my first cull of my library. Sold eleven cases of books and audio cassette tapes for $77.00. An altar missal, a Catholic Encyclopedia, an Encyclopaedia Britannica, and my best railroad books are awaiting auction by an ebay dealer.

I gave a number of Sci-Fi stuff (mostly anthologies, but including A Canticle for Liebowitz), to a friend. I also sent a few titles to my brother when I sent a couple of boxes of his stuff to him.

I am probably going to end up liquidating the whole library.

I was looking back at the posts about my unpacking in 2007. It seems so strange now, and so long ago...

Old Anglican . . . if you are around . . . it's cyber-rack time . . . break out the Yak grease. We will be using lots of it!

Torqy

"non omnis moriar" . . . Horace, Odes

"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" . . . Red Green Show

"They see well that all who speak are nothing, for they shall fadeaway with the sound of their words, but the Lord endures forever.". . . Thomas a Kempis, THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, Book 4, Chapter 14, No. 4

jbc1949 wrote:You gave up your copy of A Canticle for Leibowitz????? Anathema sit!

Old Anglican . . . if you are around . . . it's cyber-rack time . . . break out the Yak grease. We will be using lots of it!

Torqy

Ah, but it was given to a very good lady friend who likes science fiction, and has never read the book. Promoting the cultus of St. Liebowitz, and all that.

But the thing is, better to give it to a friend who might appreciate it than to sell it for pennies on the dollar, give it to the local friends of the library for their book sale, or abandon it to the landlord so he can just pitch it in the dumpster.

Not quite absolved, but as an act of oeconomia (we are in our "Orthie" mood today! ) we'll this it pass THIS TIME!

The Torq-ster

"non omnis moriar" . . . Horace, Odes

"Quando Omni Flunkus Moritati" . . . Red Green Show

"They see well that all who speak are nothing, for they shall fadeaway with the sound of their words, but the Lord endures forever.". . . Thomas a Kempis, THE IMITATION OF CHRIST, Book 4, Chapter 14, No. 4